Causes of Addiction

No one wants to be a drug addict or alcoholic, but this doesn’t stop people from getting addicted to drugs or alcohol. The most commonly asked question is simply - how could this happen? How could my son, daughter, father, sister, or brother become a liar, a thief, or someone who cannot be trusted? How could this happen? And why won’t they just stop?

The first thing you must understand about addiction is that alcohol and addictive drugs are basically painkillers. They chemically kill physical or emotional pain and alter the mind’s perception of reality. They make people numb. For drugs to be attractive to a person, there must first be some underlying unhappiness, sense of hopelessness, or physical pain.

Drug craving and the other compulsive behaviors are the essence of addiction. They are extremely difficult to control, much more difficult than any physical dependence. They are the principal target symptoms for most drug treatment programs. For an addict, there is no motivation more powerful than drug craving, the addicts entire life becomes centered on getting and using the drug. Virtually nothing seems to outweigh a drug craving as a motivator. People have committed all kinds of crimes and even abandoned their children just to get drugs.

The exact cause of drug abuse and dependence is not known. However, the pharmacology of the particular drug, peer pressure, emotional distress, anxiety, depression, and environmental stress are all factors which seem to be involved.

Risk factors that predispose people to drug dependence are different from those that predispose to use or abuse. Whether a person is genetically or biochemically predisposed to addiction or alcoholism is a controversy that has been debated for years within the scientific community. One school of thought advocates the “disease concept”, embracing the notion that addiction is an inherited disease, and that the individual is permanently ill at a genetic level, even for those experiencing long periods of sobriety.

Children who grow up in an environment of illicit drug use may first see their parents using drugs. This may put them at a higher risk for developing an addiction later in life for both environmental and genetic reasons.

The fact remains that there is scientific research to support all of these concepts. The question of whether addiction is genetic, behavioral or biochemical does not have an absolute answer. The distinguishing feature of the condition commonly referred to as addiction is the ability of the drug to dominate the individual’s behavior, regardless of whether physical dependence is also produced by the drug.

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